Wivenhoe Hill

A NEW trail has very recently opened covering much of one of the main peninsulas of Lake Wivenhoe. I decided as part of the mass exodus from Brisbane for the G20, I would head neither north nor south as the crowds were heading, but westward to explore the new trail.

The well-formed 4-wheel drive grade trail tended to stay inland passing through a forest of scattered leafy gum trees growing on hilly meadows of grass brown and lifeless from the extended drought showing no signs of abating. The hot cloudless westerly blowing from the deserts was already 28 degrees in the shade when I started walking. The temperature gradually increased to a scorching 43 degrees when I eventually completed the 12km trail.

The forest cover only allowed four clear views of the lake, but each was spectacular, especially the first view from near the summit of Wivenhoe Hill (pictured above). The fast growing gum trees though are likely to completely conceal the view in a year or two.